THE SHOP

 FROM THE AUTHOR When customers find out that I'm from Kansas, they often say, "Kansas? What can you tell me about mountain passes if you're from Kansas?" But after they hear my story, they cut me a little slack. (By the way, did you know that there was once a researcher with too much government grant money who determined that Kansas actually is flatter than a pancake?) When I was a kid in the early 60's my parents owned a 16 foot Mobil Scout travel trailer. We pulled that trailer all over the western United States and Canada with a 1962 Chevy with a 283 cubic inch engine and a three speed on the column. So I learned to love mountains and I learned to love traveling the wide open spaces of our great land. With that small trailer and the reliable Chevy, we never had any problems climbing or descending grades. Fast forward about 30 years. In the early 90's I was growing weary of the work I had been doing for 20 years and I needed a change, even if it was ...